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76th Year No. 80 Good Morning! It's Thursday, December 15, 1983 2 Sections 14 Pages 25 Cents
House passes $ 60 million tax package
ByMaryKaull
State capital bureau
JEFFERSON CITY House
members Wednesday approved a 60
million tax package that Speaker
Bob Griffin said would allow legis-lators
to " put their fingers in the
dike" and avoid massive cuts in
state services.
" In my judgment, this is the only
proposal that has a chance of pass-ing,"
the Cameron Democrat told
legislators prior to the 94- 4- 6 vote.
Griffin said repeatedly tivt the pro-posal,'
which consists of a doubling of
the corporate franchise tax, was a
" bare minimum" that merely main-tained
the status quo in the state.
The franchise taxes are designed
to generate about $ 22 million in this
Griffin proposal ' puts fingers in the dike'
fiscal year and $ 36 million in the
next
Paired with a revenue- accelerati- on
bill now being considered in a
joint House- Sena- te committee. Grif-fin
said about $ 60 million in revenues
could be generated this year under
the proposal enough to stave off
the $ 63 million in cuts Gov. Christo-pher
Bond has vowed to make in the
absence of atax increase.
The status of $ 355 million in capi-tal
improvement bonds was still -- unclear
Wednesday, although senators
frequently peeked in on the House
tax action.
Several legislative leaders have
said the state can't afford to finance
the bonds which are now stalled in
the Senate without a tax increase.
Although Griffin said Tuesday that
the legislators espoused " about 100
different positions" on tax increases,
a majority almost magically surfac-ed
Wednesday after he chaired an
unusual bipartisan caucus.
A joint House- Senat- e committee
will consider the proposal today, but
Griffin indicated Wednesday that
very few compromises would be ac-cepted
by House committee mem-bers.
Increases in " personal" taxes,
such as the sales tax and individual
income tax, would not be accepted,
he said.
Three tax prooosals were defeated
Tuesday, including an $ 175 million
measure that would have increased
business and franchise taxes and
would be subject to voter approval in
April. Also defeated was Bond's pro-posed
tax package that included a
one- quart- er cent sales tax increase.
The increased franchise taxes
would go into effect Jan. 1 and ex-pire
Dec. 31, 1985. Companies could
not be taxed more than $ 1 million un-der
the measure, which would dou-ble
the tax rate from the current
one- twentie- th of one percent of a cor-porations
shareholdings.
With precious few days to spare
before the Sunday midnight dead-line,
key House leaders were seen
scurrying to and from Griffin's of-fice
in an effort to fashion a tax pro-posal
amendable to a majority of
House members.
Their efforts paid off as members
of both parties lauded the proposal
after it was introduced by Griffin.
" What we have here is a clear and
austere solution to the troubles that
this state faces," said Rep. Robert
Young, R- Carth- age. Other Republi-cans
said they were tired of the num-bers
games and general politicking,
and were ready for a bipartisan ef
fort.
" Something has to be done imme-diately,"
said House Minority Lead-er
David Steelman, R- Sale- m. " Your
proposal is a fair proposal."
Several legislators said the busi-ness
community would go along with
the proposal.
We were told by the business
community that they were certainly
willing to pay their fair share," said
George Hobhtzelle, a St. Louis Re-publican
who sponsored Bond's pro-posed
tax package. " I think what
we're asking them now is certainly
at least their share.".
Only a handful of legislators op-posed
the measure in debate.
Some said they didn't believe the
Sm HOUSE. Pace 10A
No slump
Merchant loves carol of register bells
By Greg Hltt
Missourian staff writer
Jimmy Hourigan pushes past a handful of
Christmas shoppers and steps into Earth's
Clothing Store.
" We've never had a slump at Christmas,"
says Hourigan, crooking the money pouch he
has carried every day for more than 40 years
to First National Bank.
" We do 22 to 23 percent of our business be-tween
Thanksgiving and Christmas.' '
A portrait of Victor Barth, the store's co- found- er,
smirks approvingly from the balco-ny
above the cash register.
Hourigan sighs and slips into the arms of a
bone- gree- n chair knees forward and
shoulders bunched like an uninterested ado-lescent
Jike, the. clotbing- 3tore. h- e owns, Hourigan
has endured years of yuletide holidays.
" nChnstmas,' rhe recalls, ' was.. always
good when I was growing up. There'd be lots
of food the turkey and all the trimmings."
He lets his memory roam.
" After we opened presents on Christmas
morning," he says, " we'd take off across
town for dinner with one of my aunts."
Every year the family would share the
meal at the house of a different aunt Houri-gan
says, a situation that made for an inter-esting
sibling rivalry.
" Each one would always try to outdo the
other," he says. " It was a lot of fun."
Hourigan is the youngest of four boys.
' ' But I wasn't lonely," he says.
At Christmas the grown- up- s would play
with his trains and windup cars that Santa
left under the tree.
" The grown- up- s made pretty good compa-ny,"
he says.
In 1932, when Hourigan was IS and barely
into high school, a cousin from St. Louis
came to visit for Christmas.
" She was a Catholic," recalls Hourigan,
scratching his German Shepherd's ear. Vino,
who patrols the store with Hourigan, sports a
coat as white as his master's seasoned hair.
" None of us was Catholic, so I went to
Christmas Mass with her so she wouldn't be
alone."
His jaw juts forward. Hourigan is as jaun-ty
at 67 as at 15.
" 1 C Days of
Xtwl Christmas
" We always wore suits of some kind," he
says. " Not like the kids do today."
That year he wore a gray suit, and in a fit
of Christmas spirit he donned a dashing pair
of bright red suspenders.
But the spirit that moved him to that dash-ing
thought didn't move him to pull the sus-penders
over his shoulders.
He forgot, he says, just plain forgot
" And you know how those Catholics are,"
he says. " They're on their knees a lot up
and down all the time.
" So I was up and down," he says, " with
those bright red suspenders drooping down
and .. flashing behind me every time I
moved."
He didn't notice his ecumenical error until
he got home.
" I felt like a nut," Hourigan says. " They
ribbed me about it, but in a good- nature- d
sortofwaj'."
His recollection is cut short as the store's
door sweeps open and a bundled woman en-ters.
It's the woman from Butterfiekl Boys
Ranch, Hourigan whispers. The ranch is a
Marshall, Mo., home for orphaned children.
" Do you have any extra clothes today?"
she asks, patting down her wind- blow- n hair.
They don't.
" It's been too busy," Hourigan explains.
If Barth's has oddly sized clothes that
haven't sold, Hourigan gives them to the
ranch.
" It's a good cause," he says as the door
closes behind her. " We like to do for them."
A few weeks ago be gave several pair of
Levis to the ranch.
" They'll take just about anything," he
says. " Sizes don't matter because they've
gota lot of boys there."
But at this time of year, he says, merchan-dise
moves quickly through the store. Even
odd sizes are sold during the holiday rush.
Christmas, you must remember, is the best
time of the year.
" I love it," he says. " We do so much busi-ness."
HiHHlBHHiB9HRBMBiHBHHHHiHSlHRMIHBHHBHflKBiBiHK, 32! L! . n- - JSl wJBSaasaaBiBH
fHH9Ki'flHHHBMift.' -- WBHllBniiHlnll9B9HHHBHBHBBBHHKHIHH
Hhfff ' hSHbHBBI9Bbhb
92Sj flLELeLLHHaaVasBsBasBsBsBsBsHaasBsBsBsP" aH
HKjHMi, laaaaHLasaasvaaasHDBaHaBasasaiasaBaiaasaM
HhIhhv aee.. l. e.. eflaeMe.. e.. lflefle.... e. fle
Photo by Jim Lvmon
Jimmy Hourigan, owner of Barth's Clothing Store, with the portrait of the store's co- founde- r.
Christmas sales have merchants ho- ho- ho- ho- ing to the bank
By Gianna Jacobson
Missourian staff writer
A year ago, with the economic re-covery
just beginning, Columbia re-tailers
and shoppers alike were
worried about the prospects for a
joyous Christmas season.
This year, the doubts are gone.
Columbians face the brightest
inspects of any holiday season in a
! ong time, according to retailers,
analysts, economists and local
shoppers themselves, whose bases
for the strong predictions are the
improved national economy, partic-ularly
lower unemployment and in-flation,
and greater consumer con-fidence.
In a Missourian survey of 200 ran-domly
selected local shoppers, 194
of the respondents said business
conditions in Columbia have im-proved
over last year, and about
half of those said they planned to
spend more money on Christmas
this year.
And the trend is nation- wid- e.
" The signals from consumers
continue to be encouraging," said
Fabian Linden, executive director
of the Conference Board of the Con-sumer
Research Center in New
York.
" The high level of consumer ex-pectations
is especially reassuring
because this measure has an im-pressive
history of foreshadowing
economic events," he said. " The
mood of the consumer suggests that
the pace of the business recovery
will continue to be strong well into
the early months of the new year,
and probably even beyond."
Other experts predict that sales
gains in the season which tradi-tionally
begins the day after
Thanksgiving will range from 8
percent to 25 percent Twelve per-cent
is the figure mentioned most
often. Making the outlook even
more impressive is the fact that
only 3.5 percent of the sales jump
will result from price hikes the
healthiest showing since 1972,
according to the president of Levine
Reports, a retail consulting and
forecasting firm in Illinois.
Local retailers, some of whom de
pend on the Christmas season for as
much as 50 percent of their annual
- income, agree.
Bob Laderer, store manager for
J. C. Penney, predicted a 9 to 11 per-cent
boost over last year in fourth- quart- er
gains, compared with last
year's gain of only 5 percent
Columbia retailers have readied
their shops in anticipation of a re-cord
season.
Part- tim- e hiring in local stores is
up to about 12 percent from 6 per-cent
a year ago to provide better
service to the heavy influx of cus-tomers.
Christmas merchandise is
stocked on shelves in October, but
most of those items are purchased
: See HOLIDAY, Page 10A
RETAIL SALES TAX RECEIPTS
City of Columbia
( Calculated as 1 Percent of Retail Sales
Chg.
Month 1980 1981 1982 1983 82- 8- 3
January $ 215,972 $ 191,073 $ 216,588 237.559 10
February 490.396 510,047 578,629 444.707 23
March 287.986 420.235 351,250 572.288 62
April 142,689 169.786 181,587 191.440 5
May 495,138 561,534 511,073 606,670 18
June 314.805 378,824 429,386 422,632 1.5
July 208,941 216,149 300,735 221,893 26
August 440,970 552,538 559.920 621.186 11
September 340,222 380,464 404.652 456,520 13
October 270,497 178,088 209,629 N. A
November 493,266 526,581 580,762 N A.
December 357,699 347,965 402,512 N. A
TOTAL $ 4,058,582 $ 4,433,284 $ 4,726,723
SOURCE' City of CoumDia Finance Department
I
. 1
Economic trend puts shoppers in spirit to spend
By Gianna Jacobson
Missourian staff writer
A year can make all the differ--,
ence.
When the recovery began a year
. ago, many economists predicted it
would not reach the same propor-tions
as the average postwar re-bound.
The recovery this year, how-ever,
turned out to be surprisingly
strong.
Columbia, like most other cities
its size, has been reaping the bene-fits
of the recovery, and the strong
showing in Christmas sales reflects
the general improvement in the
economy.
In a Missourian survey of 200 ran-domly
selected Columbia residents,
98 percent of the respondents said
they felt local business conditions
had improved significantly over
last year. A sample this size has a
margin of error of about 5 to 10 per-cent,
according to the University
Department of Research and Statis-tics.
Columbians' spending patterns
reflect that feeling. Local consumer
rding, a common indicator of condition of the economy, is
higher than in recentyears.
This year's retail sales through
the third quarter increased almost
7 percent over the, same nine- mon- th
period in 1982, which indicates not
only that Columbians are spending
more money, but that they also
have more money to spend. Sales
through the third quarter increased
almost every month over the same
month in 1982, and the increase
went over the 10 percent mark in
five of those months.
Several auto dealers in Columbia
report increases in sales, and some
say there is a six- mon- th waiting pe--
nod to receive a new car.
" There is a general optimism
about everything in Columbia right
now," Dan Scotten, president of
Commerce Bank, says. " Columbia
is finally realizing its potential as a
strong regional center."
For consumers, the pre- holid- ay
season is in sharp contrast to those
of the past four years, when con-sumers
were fighting record- hig- h
inflation, record- hig- h interest rates
and double- dig- it unemployment
But this year, incomes are rising
faster than inflation, increasing
consumer buying power. Consumer
balance sheets have strengthened
dramatically over the past year,
with gains in stocks, bonds and oth-er
financial assets.
Every bank in Columbia has ex-perienced
an increase in the num-ber
of personal loans made this
year, but consumer debt relative to
after- ta- x income remains at its low-est
level since 1976.
Scotten also said that both as a
banker and as former president of
the Chamber of Commerce, he has
seen a cohesiveness and a renewed
See MORE, Page 10A
i k
1982 BOONE CO.
LABOR FORCE
Average Number
of Employees
Manufacturing 3,715
Mining 162
Construction 1,280
Transportation, Utilities
and Communications 1,399
Wholesale and
Retail Trade 9,451
Finance, Insurance
and Real Estate 3,136
Private Services 6,918
Government 20,491
Unemployed 2,697
Total Civilian
Labor Force 52,621
mmmamamammmmmammmmmBmmsJa
i

76th Year No. 80 Good Morning! It's Thursday, December 15, 1983 2 Sections 14 Pages 25 Cents
House passes $ 60 million tax package
ByMaryKaull
State capital bureau
JEFFERSON CITY House
members Wednesday approved a 60
million tax package that Speaker
Bob Griffin said would allow legis-lators
to " put their fingers in the
dike" and avoid massive cuts in
state services.
" In my judgment, this is the only
proposal that has a chance of pass-ing,"
the Cameron Democrat told
legislators prior to the 94- 4- 6 vote.
Griffin said repeatedly tivt the pro-posal,'
which consists of a doubling of
the corporate franchise tax, was a
" bare minimum" that merely main-tained
the status quo in the state.
The franchise taxes are designed
to generate about $ 22 million in this
Griffin proposal ' puts fingers in the dike'
fiscal year and $ 36 million in the
next
Paired with a revenue- accelerati- on
bill now being considered in a
joint House- Sena- te committee. Grif-fin
said about $ 60 million in revenues
could be generated this year under
the proposal enough to stave off
the $ 63 million in cuts Gov. Christo-pher
Bond has vowed to make in the
absence of atax increase.
The status of $ 355 million in capi-tal
improvement bonds was still -- unclear
Wednesday, although senators
frequently peeked in on the House
tax action.
Several legislative leaders have
said the state can't afford to finance
the bonds which are now stalled in
the Senate without a tax increase.
Although Griffin said Tuesday that
the legislators espoused " about 100
different positions" on tax increases,
a majority almost magically surfac-ed
Wednesday after he chaired an
unusual bipartisan caucus.
A joint House- Senat- e committee
will consider the proposal today, but
Griffin indicated Wednesday that
very few compromises would be ac-cepted
by House committee mem-bers.
Increases in " personal" taxes,
such as the sales tax and individual
income tax, would not be accepted,
he said.
Three tax prooosals were defeated
Tuesday, including an $ 175 million
measure that would have increased
business and franchise taxes and
would be subject to voter approval in
April. Also defeated was Bond's pro-posed
tax package that included a
one- quart- er cent sales tax increase.
The increased franchise taxes
would go into effect Jan. 1 and ex-pire
Dec. 31, 1985. Companies could
not be taxed more than $ 1 million un-der
the measure, which would dou-ble
the tax rate from the current
one- twentie- th of one percent of a cor-porations
shareholdings.
With precious few days to spare
before the Sunday midnight dead-line,
key House leaders were seen
scurrying to and from Griffin's of-fice
in an effort to fashion a tax pro-posal
amendable to a majority of
House members.
Their efforts paid off as members
of both parties lauded the proposal
after it was introduced by Griffin.
" What we have here is a clear and
austere solution to the troubles that
this state faces," said Rep. Robert
Young, R- Carth- age. Other Republi-cans
said they were tired of the num-bers
games and general politicking,
and were ready for a bipartisan ef
fort.
" Something has to be done imme-diately,"
said House Minority Lead-er
David Steelman, R- Sale- m. " Your
proposal is a fair proposal."
Several legislators said the busi-ness
community would go along with
the proposal.
We were told by the business
community that they were certainly
willing to pay their fair share," said
George Hobhtzelle, a St. Louis Re-publican
who sponsored Bond's pro-posed
tax package. " I think what
we're asking them now is certainly
at least their share.".
Only a handful of legislators op-posed
the measure in debate.
Some said they didn't believe the
Sm HOUSE. Pace 10A
No slump
Merchant loves carol of register bells
By Greg Hltt
Missourian staff writer
Jimmy Hourigan pushes past a handful of
Christmas shoppers and steps into Earth's
Clothing Store.
" We've never had a slump at Christmas,"
says Hourigan, crooking the money pouch he
has carried every day for more than 40 years
to First National Bank.
" We do 22 to 23 percent of our business be-tween
Thanksgiving and Christmas.' '
A portrait of Victor Barth, the store's co- found- er,
smirks approvingly from the balco-ny
above the cash register.
Hourigan sighs and slips into the arms of a
bone- gree- n chair knees forward and
shoulders bunched like an uninterested ado-lescent
Jike, the. clotbing- 3tore. h- e owns, Hourigan
has endured years of yuletide holidays.
" nChnstmas,' rhe recalls, ' was.. always
good when I was growing up. There'd be lots
of food the turkey and all the trimmings."
He lets his memory roam.
" After we opened presents on Christmas
morning," he says, " we'd take off across
town for dinner with one of my aunts."
Every year the family would share the
meal at the house of a different aunt Houri-gan
says, a situation that made for an inter-esting
sibling rivalry.
" Each one would always try to outdo the
other," he says. " It was a lot of fun."
Hourigan is the youngest of four boys.
' ' But I wasn't lonely," he says.
At Christmas the grown- up- s would play
with his trains and windup cars that Santa
left under the tree.
" The grown- up- s made pretty good compa-ny,"
he says.
In 1932, when Hourigan was IS and barely
into high school, a cousin from St. Louis
came to visit for Christmas.
" She was a Catholic," recalls Hourigan,
scratching his German Shepherd's ear. Vino,
who patrols the store with Hourigan, sports a
coat as white as his master's seasoned hair.
" None of us was Catholic, so I went to
Christmas Mass with her so she wouldn't be
alone."
His jaw juts forward. Hourigan is as jaun-ty
at 67 as at 15.
" 1 C Days of
Xtwl Christmas
" We always wore suits of some kind," he
says. " Not like the kids do today."
That year he wore a gray suit, and in a fit
of Christmas spirit he donned a dashing pair
of bright red suspenders.
But the spirit that moved him to that dash-ing
thought didn't move him to pull the sus-penders
over his shoulders.
He forgot, he says, just plain forgot
" And you know how those Catholics are,"
he says. " They're on their knees a lot up
and down all the time.
" So I was up and down," he says, " with
those bright red suspenders drooping down
and .. flashing behind me every time I
moved."
He didn't notice his ecumenical error until
he got home.
" I felt like a nut," Hourigan says. " They
ribbed me about it, but in a good- nature- d
sortofwaj'."
His recollection is cut short as the store's
door sweeps open and a bundled woman en-ters.
It's the woman from Butterfiekl Boys
Ranch, Hourigan whispers. The ranch is a
Marshall, Mo., home for orphaned children.
" Do you have any extra clothes today?"
she asks, patting down her wind- blow- n hair.
They don't.
" It's been too busy," Hourigan explains.
If Barth's has oddly sized clothes that
haven't sold, Hourigan gives them to the
ranch.
" It's a good cause," he says as the door
closes behind her. " We like to do for them."
A few weeks ago be gave several pair of
Levis to the ranch.
" They'll take just about anything," he
says. " Sizes don't matter because they've
gota lot of boys there."
But at this time of year, he says, merchan-dise
moves quickly through the store. Even
odd sizes are sold during the holiday rush.
Christmas, you must remember, is the best
time of the year.
" I love it," he says. " We do so much busi-ness."
HiHHlBHHiB9HRBMBiHBHHHHiHSlHRMIHBHHBHflKBiBiHK, 32! L! . n- - JSl wJBSaasaaBiBH
fHH9Ki'flHHHBMift.' -- WBHllBniiHlnll9B9HHHBHBHBBBHHKHIHH
Hhfff ' hSHbHBBI9Bbhb
92Sj flLELeLLHHaaVasBsBasBsBsBsBsHaasBsBsBsP" aH
HKjHMi, laaaaHLasaasvaaasHDBaHaBasasaiasaBaiaasaM
HhIhhv aee.. l. e.. eflaeMe.. e.. lflefle.... e. fle
Photo by Jim Lvmon
Jimmy Hourigan, owner of Barth's Clothing Store, with the portrait of the store's co- founde- r.
Christmas sales have merchants ho- ho- ho- ho- ing to the bank
By Gianna Jacobson
Missourian staff writer
A year ago, with the economic re-covery
just beginning, Columbia re-tailers
and shoppers alike were
worried about the prospects for a
joyous Christmas season.
This year, the doubts are gone.
Columbians face the brightest
inspects of any holiday season in a
! ong time, according to retailers,
analysts, economists and local
shoppers themselves, whose bases
for the strong predictions are the
improved national economy, partic-ularly
lower unemployment and in-flation,
and greater consumer con-fidence.
In a Missourian survey of 200 ran-domly
selected local shoppers, 194
of the respondents said business
conditions in Columbia have im-proved
over last year, and about
half of those said they planned to
spend more money on Christmas
this year.
And the trend is nation- wid- e.
" The signals from consumers
continue to be encouraging," said
Fabian Linden, executive director
of the Conference Board of the Con-sumer
Research Center in New
York.
" The high level of consumer ex-pectations
is especially reassuring
because this measure has an im-pressive
history of foreshadowing
economic events," he said. " The
mood of the consumer suggests that
the pace of the business recovery
will continue to be strong well into
the early months of the new year,
and probably even beyond."
Other experts predict that sales
gains in the season which tradi-tionally
begins the day after
Thanksgiving will range from 8
percent to 25 percent Twelve per-cent
is the figure mentioned most
often. Making the outlook even
more impressive is the fact that
only 3.5 percent of the sales jump
will result from price hikes the
healthiest showing since 1972,
according to the president of Levine
Reports, a retail consulting and
forecasting firm in Illinois.
Local retailers, some of whom de
pend on the Christmas season for as
much as 50 percent of their annual
- income, agree.
Bob Laderer, store manager for
J. C. Penney, predicted a 9 to 11 per-cent
boost over last year in fourth- quart- er
gains, compared with last
year's gain of only 5 percent
Columbia retailers have readied
their shops in anticipation of a re-cord
season.
Part- tim- e hiring in local stores is
up to about 12 percent from 6 per-cent
a year ago to provide better
service to the heavy influx of cus-tomers.
Christmas merchandise is
stocked on shelves in October, but
most of those items are purchased
: See HOLIDAY, Page 10A
RETAIL SALES TAX RECEIPTS
City of Columbia
( Calculated as 1 Percent of Retail Sales
Chg.
Month 1980 1981 1982 1983 82- 8- 3
January $ 215,972 $ 191,073 $ 216,588 237.559 10
February 490.396 510,047 578,629 444.707 23
March 287.986 420.235 351,250 572.288 62
April 142,689 169.786 181,587 191.440 5
May 495,138 561,534 511,073 606,670 18
June 314.805 378,824 429,386 422,632 1.5
July 208,941 216,149 300,735 221,893 26
August 440,970 552,538 559.920 621.186 11
September 340,222 380,464 404.652 456,520 13
October 270,497 178,088 209,629 N. A
November 493,266 526,581 580,762 N A.
December 357,699 347,965 402,512 N. A
TOTAL $ 4,058,582 $ 4,433,284 $ 4,726,723
SOURCE' City of CoumDia Finance Department
I
. 1
Economic trend puts shoppers in spirit to spend
By Gianna Jacobson
Missourian staff writer
A year can make all the differ--,
ence.
When the recovery began a year
. ago, many economists predicted it
would not reach the same propor-tions
as the average postwar re-bound.
The recovery this year, how-ever,
turned out to be surprisingly
strong.
Columbia, like most other cities
its size, has been reaping the bene-fits
of the recovery, and the strong
showing in Christmas sales reflects
the general improvement in the
economy.
In a Missourian survey of 200 ran-domly
selected Columbia residents,
98 percent of the respondents said
they felt local business conditions
had improved significantly over
last year. A sample this size has a
margin of error of about 5 to 10 per-cent,
according to the University
Department of Research and Statis-tics.
Columbians' spending patterns
reflect that feeling. Local consumer
rding, a common indicator of condition of the economy, is
higher than in recentyears.
This year's retail sales through
the third quarter increased almost
7 percent over the, same nine- mon- th
period in 1982, which indicates not
only that Columbians are spending
more money, but that they also
have more money to spend. Sales
through the third quarter increased
almost every month over the same
month in 1982, and the increase
went over the 10 percent mark in
five of those months.
Several auto dealers in Columbia
report increases in sales, and some
say there is a six- mon- th waiting pe--
nod to receive a new car.
" There is a general optimism
about everything in Columbia right
now," Dan Scotten, president of
Commerce Bank, says. " Columbia
is finally realizing its potential as a
strong regional center."
For consumers, the pre- holid- ay
season is in sharp contrast to those
of the past four years, when con-sumers
were fighting record- hig- h
inflation, record- hig- h interest rates
and double- dig- it unemployment
But this year, incomes are rising
faster than inflation, increasing
consumer buying power. Consumer
balance sheets have strengthened
dramatically over the past year,
with gains in stocks, bonds and oth-er
financial assets.
Every bank in Columbia has ex-perienced
an increase in the num-ber
of personal loans made this
year, but consumer debt relative to
after- ta- x income remains at its low-est
level since 1976.
Scotten also said that both as a
banker and as former president of
the Chamber of Commerce, he has
seen a cohesiveness and a renewed
See MORE, Page 10A
i k
1982 BOONE CO.
LABOR FORCE
Average Number
of Employees
Manufacturing 3,715
Mining 162
Construction 1,280
Transportation, Utilities
and Communications 1,399
Wholesale and
Retail Trade 9,451
Finance, Insurance
and Real Estate 3,136
Private Services 6,918
Government 20,491
Unemployed 2,697
Total Civilian
Labor Force 52,621
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